When we heard Carrie Anne was planning a trip down-under for PyCon 2015 we took the opportunity to invite her to particpate in this seminar and workshop for teachers and educators here in Sydney.

Carrie Anne will present a review of the Raspberry Pi Foundation's experiences creating and delivering Picademy continuing professional development workshops for teachers in the UK. After the seminar she will run a Picademy STEM workshop for teachers using Raspberry Pi and Pimoroni's Explorer HAT.

About Nicky Ringland

Nicky is one of the founders of Grok Learning, an educational startup teaching the world to code.

A serial volunteer, Nicky is also an Outreach Officer for the National Computer Science School, an initiative of the University of Sydney, and runs outreach activities (workshops, camps and competitions) to inspire and educate high school students and teachers in computer science.

Like Carrie Anne, Nicky is also passionate about engaging girls in STEM and programming and was instrumental in the establishment of the Girls' Programming Network as part of NCSS.

The learning experiences offered are engaging, interactive and 100% hands-on. They provide excellent examples of project based learning in action.

Like Carrie Anne and Nicky, Thinkspace recognise that in STEM and especially computing, boys outnumber girls roughly 4:1. They offer workshops Just For Girls as part of their commitment to providing workshop that are accessible to the widest possible audiences.

It will be a hands-on experience demonstrating Picademy's approach to teacher professional development with insights into ways teachers can model classroom practice around physical computing and project based learning.

For those new to physical computing with Raspberry Pi and especially its use in education, element14 have created this easy to read explanatory brochure.

More teachers are beginning to understand the importance of coding skills as part of a modern education. Indeed, organisations such as code.org have long advocated for a stronger emphasis on computer science in schools.

However, our view is that the need is broader than coding skills alone.

Changes being implemented in the school curriculum in Australia and elsewhere are designed to address challenges today's students will face as adults a world dominated by myriad technologies.

To participate fully in this modern society students need to develop analytical skills and think systemically to develop scalable solutions to sometimes complex problems.

Physical computing and STEM disciplines are at the forefront of these changes.

Teacher Development

Key to the success of adapting education to meet these challenges is on-going teacher professional development.

Educators need to be well equipped with the new skills required to enhance their teaching practice and improve student outcomes, not just in computing, coding & STEM but in all key learning areas.

The aim of this event is to introduce participants to some the key ideas drawn from the experience of both speakers who have been working and advocating for these changes here in Australia and in the UK.